Causes Of Problems
Some of the most common causes of family business problems and challenges are:
- Poor communications between family members, plus entrenched low levels of trust and general lack of willingness to collaborate over anything.
- Lack of information about the financial situation, future plans and future prospects of the business.
- Unclear or unshared vision and goals for the business and the family. Family members working in, or relying on the business, have no idea what the future may bring for the business, the family or for themselves.
- Inter and intra-generational conflict arising over the perceived need to make major changes and/or to modernise, professionalise or restructure the business.
- Fear. If the business has been the owner's life, then will leaving, or even slowing down, be their death? What is there for them beyond the business?
- Fear. Dad can't imagine being at home 24/7 with Mum.
- Fear. Mum can't imagine being at home 24/7 with Dad!
- Fear. Owner(s) cannot bring themselves to pass over ownership of the business, even though they transferred responsibility for managing it years previously. (We say: "Don't hand over the reins unless you're ready to get off the horse!").
- Lack of a workable, or any, Succession Plan.
- Lack of objectivity and realism in the owner(s) of the business.
- Unclear roles and responsibilities for family members.
- Unclear or unknown expectations amongst family members.
- Entrenched, unresolved relationship problems between family members.
- Inability to separate business issues from family issues.
- Inability to separate business needs from family needs.
- Inability to mobilise the family to support the business and vice versa.
- Lack of circuit breaker processes or people to help resolve conflicts between family members.
No simple process can hope to resolve these types of problem and a sell out + walk away, or a scorched earth approach, is guaranteed to make things worse in the long term. We often see situations where, year after year a family has faced adversity, made sacrifices and placed enormous personal and financial demands on family members to help build and run a business - without ever stopping to recognise or deal with the problems brewing in its own nest.
Eventually, the problem becomes intolerable to one or more family members. Often, the catalyst for (re)action is a major change or crisis (emotional, financial, operational or medical).
When either the family, or the business, or more usually both, are about to implode and everything seems to have reached a point of desperation, we can help by providing a Solutionist response that has already seen and dealt successfully with many similarly impossible situations in the past. Our unique blend of multi-skilled expertise in problem solving and conflict management, is mixed with practical business, financial and legal competencies, the result is (usually) sensible and workable outcomes for the family, the business and the individuals affected by both.
